BOKA DA VINCI

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Fire in engine room off Tyne

The "Nor da Vinci" suffered a fire on July 31, 2017. It broke out in the vicinity of the engine room while the ship was five nautical miles East of the Tyne piers after leaving Blyth harbour. The UK Coastguard's Humber Operations Centre tasked Tynemouth RNLI's all weather lifeboat at 1:15 p.m. to go to the assistance of the ship. The windfarm support boat "Iceni Spirit" also responded to the Mayday and sped to the scene. Arriving at the "Nor Da Vinci "just eight minutes after launching, the volunteer lifeboat crew made contact with the ship whose crew assured them that they were all safe and no-one was in immediate danger. The UK Coastguard were in constant contact with the ship while they coordinated the rescue operation and after a few minutes it was confirmed that although their had been a fire any flames had gone out leaving smoke coming from smouldering pipe lagging. The "Iceni Spirit" was stood down by the Coastguard and thanked for their response while the RNLI lifeboat continued to stand by as a precaution in case the situation worsened. After an hour the ship confirmed that the fire was out but that they were going to anchor and shut all systems down to make a full investigation. At 4.10 p.m. the "Nor Da Vinci" reported to UK Coastguard that they had finally located the problem that caused the fire and that all was safe. They also confirmed that the ship has seven engines and although two had been isolated as a result of the fire, they were able to get under way. The lifeboat was then stood down and returned to station while the ship's crew made further repairs. Two of seven engines on board were shut down, but the ship remained manoeverable and was brought to anchor under own power East of Tynemouth. Report with photos: https://rnli.org/news-and-media/2017/august/01/tynemouth-rnli-lifeboat-responds-to-ships-mayday-distress-call